The 4th Spy at Los Alamos – part 1 / Cindy Bruchmann book review

Last fall, a pair of historians revealed that yet another Soviet spy, code named Godsend, had infiltrated the Los Alamos laboratory where the world’s first atom bomb was built. But they were unable to discern the secrets he gave Moscow or the nature of his work.

However, the lab recently declassified and released documents detailing the spy’s highly specialized employment and likely atomic thefts, potentially recasting a mundane espionage case as one of history’s most damaging.

It turns out that the spy, whose real name was Oscar Seborer, had an intimate understanding of the bomb’s inner workings. His knowledge most likely surpassed that of the three previously known Soviet spies at Los Alamos, and played a crucial role in Moscow’s ability to quickly replicate the complex device. In 1949, the Soviets detonated a knockoff, abruptly ending Washington’s monopoly on nuclear weapons.

Stuart Seborer

The documents from Los Alamos show that Mr. Seborer helped devise the bomb’s explosive trigger — in particular, the firing circuits for its detonators. The successful development of the daunting technology let Los Alamos significantly reduce the amount of costly fuel needed for atomic bombs and began a long trend of weapon miniaturization. The technology dominated the nuclear age, especially the design of small, lightweight missile warheads of enormous power.

Mr. Seborer’s inner knowledge stands in contrast to the known espionage. The first Los Alamos spy gave the Soviets a bomb overview. So did the second and third.

Mr. Klehr, an emeritus professor of politics and history at Emory University, said the new information cast light on a furtive boast about the crime. Last fall, in the scholarly paper, the two historians noted that Mr. Seborer fled the United States in 1951 and defected to the Soviet bloc with his older brother Stuart, his brother’s wife and his mother-in-law.

Ship manifest

The paper also noted that an F.B.I. informant learned that a communist acquaintance of the Seborers eventually visited them. The family lived in Moscow and had assumed the surname Smith. The visitor reported back that Oscar and Stuart had said they would be executed for “what they did” if the brothers ever returned to the United States.

Last fall, the historians described the Seborers as a Jewish family from Poland that, in New York, became “part of a network of people connected to Soviet intelligence.” Both Oscar and Stuart attended City College, “a hotbed of communist activism,” the historians wrote.

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg

Stuart took a math class there in 1934 with Julius Rosenberg, they reported. In a notorious Cold War spy case, Mr. Rosenberg and his wife, Ethel, were convicted of giving the Soviets atomic secrets. In 1953 they were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, N.Y., orphaning their two sons, ages 6 and 10.

The scholarly paper, written with John Earl Haynes, a former historian at the Library of Congress, appeared in the September issue of Studies in Intelligence. The journal, a C.I.A. quarterly, is published for the nation’s intelligence agencies as well as academic and independent scholars.

The Times’s article ran on Nov. 23, a Saturday. Four days later, a reporter sent the scholarly paper to Los Alamos and asked if the lab’s archive had any photos of Mr. Seborer or relevant documents.

Two weeks later, on Dec. 10, the lab emailed 10 pages of newly declassified documents from 1956. The material consists mainly of a correspondence between a top security official at Los Alamos and the lab’s branch of the Atomic Energy Commission, a federal agency that oversaw the weapons development site. The letters discussed an F.B.I. investigation of Mr. Seborer’s espionage but gave no specifics on what he may have delivered to Moscow. Instead, the exchange dwelled on the secrets available to him.

The documents include pages from a 1945 Los Alamos telephone directory as a way of confirming the suspect’s lab employment.

All three previously known Los Alamos spies told the Soviets of a secret bomb-detonation method known as implosion. The technique produced a bomb far more sophisticated than the crude one dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. A prototype of the implosion device was tested successfully in the New Mexican desert in July 1945, and a bomb of similar design was dropped on Nagasaki weeks later, on Aug. 9. Four years later, the Soviets successfully tested an implosion device.

The early bombs relied on two kinds of metallic fuel, uranium and plutonium. The bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima worked by firing one cylinder of uranium fuel into a second one, to form a critical mass. Atoms then split apart in furious chain reactions, releasing huge bursts of energy.

In contrast, the implosion bomb started with a ball of plutonium surrounded by a large sphere of conventional explosives. By design, their detonation produced waves of pressure that were highly focused and concentrated. The waves crushed inward with such gargantuan force that the dense ball of plutonium metal was compressed into a much denser state, triggering the atomic blast.

Book Review – “Inside The Gold Plated Pistol” by: Cindy Bruchmann

I am not adept at doing book reviews and I rarely do one for a fiction piece, but our fellow blogger and U.S. Navy Veteran, Cindy Bruchmann, has created a very unique volume.

Inside the Gold Plated Pistol, Cynthia Bruchmann

As characters are being introduced, you are following the plot through the eyes of that person. With each view, the story-line progresses. Early on you will discover what is Inside the Gold Plated Pistol, but you will need to continue reading to see what becomes of the people surrounding the mystery.

I enjoyed Cindy’s insistence on researching 1928 and on into the 1930’s era. The Native American relationship with the white man (or woman). Her use of detail only enhances the tale. I was amazed to learn that Hershey’s Kisses were around that long ago, what the movie industry was like or that Bob’s Big Boy diners started back then – who knew?

I don’t think I should continue any further, lest I give huge spoilers away – and that is not my intent. But I do hope I piqued your interest!!

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About GP Cox

Everett Smith served with the Headquarters Company, 187th Regiment, 11th A/B Division during WWII. This site is in tribute to my father, "Smitty."
GPCox is a member of the 11th Airborne Association. Member # 4511 and extremely proud of that fact!

I must say that times have changed! We executed Ethel and Julius Rosenberg for what is now commonplace in our country. There are spies everywhere and espionage is as common as a cold. I don’t like that much!

I don’t think that you can sink any lower than spying on, and revealing the secrets of, a country that has been generous enough to accept you when you needed help.
That’s one of the major reasons that these Islamist crazies who randomly stab people in the streets of England are so popular. Years ago, we were silly enough to give them help when they needed it.

I’ve always found spycraft fascinating, and even in this hi-tech time people are necessary, whether they’re just cracking code or hacking into systems. The kind of failure represented by the Los Alamos staffing surely is taking place today. A CNN article in 2017 reported an estimate of 100,000 spies in the U.S., working for 60-80 nations. Amazing. I’m in the neighborhood of the Johnson Space Center and the multiple corporations that support their work. Every now and then, I’ll look at the grocery store checkout line or the crowd in the coffee shop and wonder: just who’s in the room with me? We never really know.

No you don’t know who you’re talking to – that’s for certain. It was only recently learned that a Nazii SS officer recently died in the mid-west where he has resided since the war.
(I thought you were moving out of Texas?)

The tech said it was, but now we have Windows 10 and I’m a bit disorganized now. It’s going to take getting used to – especially my pictures – looking for something is going to take all day at this point.

Hey Brother, you can not imagine how much I appreciate all that you do with your articles. As I look at the events of the world and our country, it is very clear that WW2 has pretty much become forgotten. May God richly bless you.

I thought that was a bit odd myself, but there’s always new info coming in. Just learned about a 100-year old Nazii SS, who ordered the destruction of a Polish village, just died after living in the mid-west since the war.

Interesting story about the atom bomb. Ain’t science wonderful? It creates significant discoveries about the preservation of human life and also its destruction. I hate to see what the latest bomb can do for us, obliterate the whole human race. Interesting book review without giving the whole story away. Good job, GP.

This is a fascinating post, GP. The history of Los Alamos is so much more interesting than one would think from driving through the town (which I did the first time I lived in NM, about 15 years ago). I don’t know what I expected, but what I saw… well, never mind.
Kudos on the book review. You made me want to read it. Best to Cindy. Hugs all around.

There was nothing wrong with the town. But none of the buildings captured my imagination in any way. Also, ten years before that, there had been a huge and terrible fire. The surrounding landscape (that we drove through to get there) had not recovered back then, burned out blackened trees and mountainsides — that set a sad mood for the visit, I guess.
I have no idea how it looks now. I’m sure everything is very nice. They get a lot of snow, so more moisture for the land to recover, and who knows what they have built (or what I missed for that matter).
New Mexico was settled long before it became a state. Albuquerque is more than 300 years old. Santa Fe and Taos also have intriguing places and buildings. Los Alamos just didn’t have the same effect on me. (shrugs)

GP, what a swell guy you are! Thanks for mentioning my book. It was a lot of fun researching the area of Clardale, AZ, home to the copper baron William A. Clark and his family. The Hopi Indians and their traditions are insightful and interesting. I also enjoyed paying homage to the film industry in the 1928. German Expressionism, the Western with Zane Grey, and the Hollywood musical. What I learned most was women’s role in aviation. That was fun to put all the information I found and weave it around the fictional characters.
You are a true friend.
Thank you,
Cindy

If I had known I could have mentioned all that and you wouldn’t consider it a spoiler – the review would have been easier to do – that’s for sure!! Those women aviators are great to learn about, aren’t they? Loved it all!!

Good history about the US spies, GP. I knew a fair bit about the Rosenbergs, but not much else.
Great to see Cindy’s book reviewed. But I would suggest anyone interested read the other book first, as some characters ‘continue’ in this one.

Fascinating history about the atomic bomb. Just started an essay about a telegram delivered to a family in Iowa the day the second bomb was dropped.

A book review should whet a person’s appetite to read the whole thing. You did just that with Inside the Gold Plated Pistol. (I would also have looked up Hershey’s Kisses and Big Boy diners, surprised at the authenticity.)